FYI: Deep Sea Diving

Shira Yehudit Djlilmand

Imagine the mysterious underwater world, full of strange creatures and plants, and imagine yourself swimming effortlessly through that world as the weirdest creatures pass by. That’s the amazing experience that deep sea divers have.…

Wednesday, September 07, 2011

What’s Deep Sea Diving?

Anyone can dive into the water, whether it’s the sea, a lake, or river, or simply the local pool, and have a lot of fun. If you want to swim just below the surface, you can use a simple snorkel. But if you want to do deep-sea diving, you have to stay underwater for a long time, and so you have to breathe. As we’re not fish, deep-sea divers need a special machine so they can breathe. That’s what a “scuba” is, a word which stands for “Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus” — in other words, a tank of air that the diver carries on his back. There are lots of types of deep-sea diving; commercial divers are employed to work on underwater equipment such as oil rigs, pipelines, and ships, while military divers, who usually work for the Navy, do all kinds of dangerous jobs such as placing mines, bomb disposal, and going behind enemy lines. Police divers are used to hunt for clues underwater, and wreck divers explore ancient or not-so-ancient wrecks. Ice diving sounds pretty scary — divers swim in the deep water under huge sheets of ice, but they have to make sure to stay attached by a guideline as there’s only one way out of the water — the hole in the ice where they went in! Or how about cave diving? Considered to be one of the most dangerous sports in the world, cave diving involves swimming down to, through, and out of deep underwater caves that can twist and turn for miles. If you lose your way, you’re in big trouble. Personally, I think I would stick with the recreational, “just for fun” diving — sounds a lot safer!